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José Antonio Aguirre y Lecube (6 March 1904 – 22 March 1960) was a Basque activist and politician, member of the Basque Nationalist Party who served as the first lehendakari of the Provisional Government of the Basque Country from its establishment in 1936 during the Second Spanish Republic until 1938 and then after the Spanish Civil War in exile until his death in 1960. Under his mandate, the Provisional Government attempted to organise a defense of the Basque Country by creating the Basque Army, which fought on the Republican side during the war. After the Republican defeat, he lived in exile in Paris where he continued representing the Basque Government.

Early life
José Antonio Aguirre was born on 6 March, 1904 in Bilbao, province of Biscay. He received primary education from the first ever ikastola, located in the Plaza Nueva of Bilbao. He continued with his secondary education in a Jesuit school in Urduña, and after that he studied law at the University of Deusto.

After the death of his father in 1920, the family moved to Algorta, where Aguirre, as the elder male sibling, found himself head of the family. He began working as a consultant in the family business Chocolates Aguirre and in 1920 he and other partners founded Chocolates Bilbaínos S.A., which resulted from the partnership of Chocolates Aguirre with Martina Zuricalday, La Dulzura and Caracas. Each founding member had a 25% partnership in the business: Aguirre served as main advisor.

By 1933 Aguirre was the main responsible of the chocolate factories of the company. Following the social doctrine of the Catholic Church and the Rerum novarum issued by Pope Leo XIII, Aguirre conducted reforms that improved the situation of the factory workers at the company, including healthcare coverage, paid vacation, promotion of social housing and the distribution of part of the profits among the poor. Alongside his brother Juan Mari, who acted as director of the company, a workers regulation was established at the company agreed with the workers' committee, which was considered an important social progress at the time. By 1937, Chocolates Bilbaínos was the second largest chocolate producer in the Spanish sector.

Aguirre played as a professional football player for the local Athletic Club Bilbao betwen 1921 and 1925, being among the players who won the Copa del Rey tournament in 1923. In later years, he would be one of the main promoters of the Basque Country national football team, which would play in Europe and the Americas to raise funds for Basque refugee children whose parents had been forced into exile during the civil war.

In 1926, after receiving his law degree, he served his military service at the Garellano barracks of Bilbao. Once he completed the service, he began working as an attorney at the Esteban de Bilbao law firm. After working there for two years, he opened his solo practice office at 2, Iturribide street, in Bilbao. He focused on political issues and the working conditions of the lower class.

At this time, Spain was under the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera. Aguirre was deeply involved in the regional political activities and considered himself a Basque nationalist. After serving as president of the Biscayan Catholic Youth, he joined the Basque Nationalist Party, at the time led by Jesus Maria de Leizaola and divided into two opposing factions Aberri – who were against political moderation and wanted to follow the principles laid by Sabino Arana - and the Comunidad Nacionalista Vasca, who had a more moderate approach to Basque nationalism. Aguirre opposed such division and contributed to the eventual reunification of the party.

In 1930 the party would reunify after the Bergara Conference, although it would suffer another secession later that same year, with the foundation of the Basque Nationalist Action, a secular, left-wing nationalist party that sought the independence of the Basque Country while denouncing the conservative and Catholic traditionalist aspects of the party. Aguirre, who was a Catholic and followed the Jesuit tradition, chose to remain in the original party. He became a member of Euzko Gaztedi, the party's youth branch, and would often write for the party newspaper, Euzkadi.

Republican era
After the end of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship, new political opportunities arose in the Basque Country. On 13 April, 1931, local elections were celebrated in Spain, which led to an overwhelming republican victory, ending the reign of Alfonso XIII and giving birth to the Second Spanish Republic; the Basque city of Eibar was the first to proclaim the republic. Aguirre was a candidate of the Basque Nationalist Party in the local elections, and after winning a majority in the Getxo city council, he was named mayor, officially starting his political career.